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Computer Languages


                  To communicate with the computers, we need some special languages which are called
                  computer languages or programming languages. A computer language is the medium by

                  which instructions are transmitted to the computer to perform a specific task. It is a set of
                  words, symbols and codes that the computer can understand. It is used to write computer
           Prime (Ver. 2.2)-VI  The process of writing a program is called programming. People who write the programs
                  programs. A computer program is a set of instructions written in a programming language.


                  are called programmers. There are a number of programming languages worldwide. Some
                  languages  were  developed  for  specific  computers,  others  were  developed  for  specific

                  uses such as scientific or business applications. Computer languages are classified into
                  two major categories:



          120                                      Computer Languages




                          Low-Level Language                                    High-Level Language





                       Machine           Assembly       Third Generation  Fourth-Generation             Natural
                    Language (1GL)    Language (2GL)     Language (3GL)        Language (4GL)       Language (5GL)




                     Low-Level Language (LLL)


                  A low-level language is a programming language that is machine dependent. A program
                  written in machine-dependent language runs only on one particular type of computer. There
                  are two categories of low-level languages:


                  Machine Language
                  Machine language is the only language understood by the computer. It is also known as the

                  first generation language (1GL). Machine language is very difficult for programmers to use
                  because it only consists of two digits, 0 and 1, called binary digits or bits. Where the bit

                  '0' represents the OFF state and the bit '1' represents the ON state.

                  Assembly Language

                  Assembly language is also known as second generation language (2GL). It is the language in
                  which program codes are written in the form of alphanumeric symbols called ‘Mnemonics’
                  instead of 0 and 1.
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